Grandparents Want A Surrogate Baby With Dead Son's Sperm — Is This Ethical?

Ohad Ben-Yaakov was only 27 when he died — and now his devastated parents want to have his baby!

We don’t know whether this is a touching story or a bizarre one. After their son Ohad died from a work-related accident, Israeli couple Mali and Dudi Ben-Yaakov are petitioning the Israeli attorney general for the right to impregnate a surrogate of their choosing with his sperm — which they extracted while he was in a coma. Hmm… should this be allowed?

“If we were entitled to donate the organs of our son why are we not entitled to make use of his sperm in order to bring offspring to the world?” Mali and Dudi asked back in February.

The idea of posthumous childbearing is an odd idea on its own. But in this case, the fact that it is the grandparents — and not one of the parents — who want to go through with the procedure is even stranger.

Ohad wasn’t married, and there were no verbal or written messages left for his parents that describe his having a need to become a father. Did he even want to be a parent? Or was he thinking about it? It sounds like this could be considered a violation of his wishes.

I get that they are trying to fill a void and remember their son’s life. Who can’t sympathize withe that? But there are many ways to grieve — this just may not be the right solution.